


The worst ones are actually sweet

by orphan_account



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Denial of Feelings, F/M, Fake Character Death, Jealousy, Love Triangles, Love at First Sight, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Possessive Behavior, Protectiveness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-28 11:49:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20425502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: What if Gaston had been successful in getting Belle away from Rumpelstiltskin, instead of respecting Belle's wishes. And what if the curse put the two together as husband and wife instead of Regina locking her up.





	The worst ones are actually sweet

**Author's Note:**

> Because Rumpelstiltskin and Belle are each others true love, I decided to have him fall in love at first sight, but he hasn't felt love for so long he didn't realize what it was. Well at least not until it was too late and she was gone from his life.

Inside a castle Belle, Gaston, Maurice, and several others study a map of nearby regions. The king's steward swallows thickly as he reads a letter off to the side.

"Sir, there's news from the battlefield. Avonlea has fallen." He turns to say while crushing the piece of parchment, looking at him horrified.

"If only he had come..." Gaston frowns, pulling Belle against him gently, wishing to comfort his bride to be.

"Well he didn't, did he? Ogres are not men." The king snaps crossing the room and sitting down on the throne.

"We have to do something, we have to stop them." Gaston frowns, gripping his sword tightly in anger. He sighs as Belle pulls away from him and crosses the room to her father, the king. She put a comforting hand on his arm as he mumbled to himself about how unstoppable they were.

"He could be on his way right now, Papa."

"It's too late, my girl. It's just... too late." The king says tiredly, resting his face in his palm in defeat.

"That's him! That has to be him." Belle exclaims loudly as a heavy loud banging can be heard from the door. The guards stand at the ready, Gaston quickly rushing over to Belle and shoving her behind himself to protect her incase what was on the other side was less than friendly.

"How could he get past the walls? Open it!" The king commands his guards to open the door. He gets up and pushes through them when he sees that no one is standing in the hall.

"Well, that was a bit of a let down! You sent me a message, something about, "Help! Help! We're dying. Can you save us?" A man laughs, startling everyone. Gaston spins to face the intruder, roughly yanking Belle by the arm and points his sword at him. The man frowns and smacks the blade away annoyed, he quickly masks it after a second and giggled.

"Well the answer is... Yes, I can. Yes, I can protect your little town... for a price." He grins, trailing off darkly and entwining his fingers together.

"We sent you a promise of gold." The king snarls annoyed at the current Dark one's games.

"Ah... now, you see, um... I uh... make gold." Rumplestiltskin begins to explain awkwardly as he looked around the room. He looked over each human, sizing them up before his eyes landed on something that caused his heart to skip for just a second. He grinned, feeling the rush of excitement he always got when seeing something he knew could be valuable for a deal at some point in the future.

"What I want is something a bit more special. My price... is her." He leaned forward grinning ecstatic and pointed to Belle, waiting to see the reactions of those near the woman.

"No!" The king said right away, not willing to risk his only child's life or happiness. Not to mention a possible war with her betrothed's kingdom. Gaston immediately glared, his pulse quickening as he shielded Belle with his arm.

"The young lady is engaged... to me." He frowned, while she may not like him, she was definitely someone he was much more willing to marry and live with.

"I wasn't asking if she was engaged. I'm not looking for love! I'm looking for a caretaker... for my rather large estate. It's her, or no deal." Rumplestiltskin could feel his heart race, she was most definitely something valuable if this is how everyone was reacting to trading her for the safety of an entire kingdom. Oh yes, he definitely wanted to possess her now!

Of course ogres are superstitious and greedy, and with a few whispers and some gold he would have been able to just send them on their way for much less. But he loved the idea that he could make an even better deal with the kingdom later at some point, they would practically agree to any deal if that's how they already behaved.

"Get out. Leave!" The king screamed pointing to the door as Gaston pulled Belle back with his arm. Rumplestiltskin calmly got up and walked towards the door.

"As you wish." He smiled, he could feel the cogs practically turn in the girls head as he past her.

"No, wait!" She called after him and he grinned, pleased at how fast her despiration made her act. He stopped and twisted to face her as she worried her bottom lip.

"I will go with him." Belle breathed out, tensing as Gaston flinched, squeezing her arm in shock.

"I forbid it, Belle!" Gaston growled, pointing his sword at Rumplestiltskin once again.

“No one decides my fate but me! I shall go." She huffed, yanking her arm away and glaring up at him.

"It's forever, dearie." Rumple grinned, holding back a laugh at murderous look he received from Gaston when he said dearie.

"My family, my friends... they will all live?"

"You have my word."

"Then you have mine. I will go, with you, forever."

"Deal!" Rumple giggled, and gleefully held his hand out for Belle to take.

"Belle... Belle... you cannot do this! Belle, please! You cannot go with this.. beast." The king said with absolute hate and disdain in his voice. Belle took hold of Rumple's hand, squaring her shoulders as she turned to say one last thing.

“Father... Gaston... it's been decided."

“You know, she's right. The deal is struck... Oh, congratulations on your little war!" Rumplestiltskin laughed as they disappeared in a cloud of red smoke.

When the smoke cleared, he dragged Belle by her arm through the castle

"Where are you taking me?" She asked confused, she willingly came with him. So why was he dragging her around like she would run?

"Let's call it.. your room." He stated, for some reason he felt odd. One second he was beyond ecstatic to see this women walk about from the man standing beside her, "defending" her, and the next he wanted to destroy any trace of him ever being near her.

"My room?"

  
"Well, it sounds a lot nicer than "dungeon"." He pushes her inside and closes the door, locking it before she got up. 

"You can't just leave me in here!" She yelled just before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke as she slammed her hands against the door.

* * *

Inside Rumplestiltskin's estate Belle is on a ladder attempting to open the curtains, as Rumplestiltskin is spinning at his wheel.

"Why do you spin so much?" Belle asked, trying to entertain herself as she struggles to move them. Pausing his spinning Rumplestiltskin turns to look at her unsure why she asked. It had been almost a month since the girl began her duties and this was the first conversation she tried to have with him. Taking his silence for annoyance, Belle looks down sighing.

"Sorry, it's just...you've spun straw into more gold than you could ever spend."

"I like to watch the wheel. Helps me forget." He finally answered and leaned back, folding his arms over his chest.

"Forget what?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at the heavy material in front of her as Rumple hummed to himself.

"I guess it worked." He blinked having forgotten the answer for the time being, he laughs and so does Belle. Getting up he walks over, looking up to figure out what she was trying to do.

"what are you doing?" He knits his brows together, she never tried to move the curtains before.

“Opening these! It's almost spring, we should let some light in.” She smiled happily down at him while answering. He glanced away awkwardly, still not use to her smiling at him.

“What did you do, nail them down?” Belle tugs the curtains, frustrated they wouldn’t budge.

“Yes.” He deadpans, deciding to go back to spinning, as he moves away Belle tugs on the curtains again and gasps as her footing slides away. Rumplestiltskin turns quickly and and catches her, both are surprised by what just occurred, and their gazes meet.

"Um... thank you... Thank you!" Belle tells him breathless before she's awkwardly set down.

"It's no matter." He says slightly uncomfortable with how easily she talked to him now.

"I'll, uh, put the curtains back up."

"There's no need. I'll get used to it." He walks back unsure of why he worried she could hurt herself trying to put them back.

* * *

Belle had set down a fresh cup of tea beside Rumplestiltskin as he worked on a potion, before sitting down as enjoying one as well. He gladly picked it up and took a long drink, having been at work all morning.

"So, I've had a couple of months to look around, you know. And the more I see, the more I realize you were a man once. An ordinary man." She pauses seeing him raise an eyebrow. Clearing her throat awkwardly she takes another sip of her tea.

"If I'm never going to know another person in my whole life, can't I at least know you?" Belle swallows, hoping she didn't overstep what she could talk to him about.

"Perhaps... but! Perhaps you just want to learn the monster's weaknesses!" He grins giggling at how cute she looked when unsure, before turning away and pretending to grab some ingredients. He blushed at the thought of Belle looking cute, when had he begun to think that? 

"You're not a monster, you just think you're uglier than you are. That's why you cover all the mirrors isn't it?" Belle asks softly as she looked at him, he was glad he hadn't turned around just yet, as his face felt entirely too hot at her words. Turning back around with some random vials he looks at her, frowning.

"You had a life, Belle. Before...this, friends and family. What made you choose to come here with me?" He questions after a moment, feigning indiference as he swirled a clear liquid.

"I guess heroism, there aren't a lot of opportunities in this land for women to show what they can do. To see the world, to be heroes. So, when you arrived, that was my chance." Belle said thoughtfully, beaming at him when he looked startled.

"I always wanted to be brave. I figured, do the brave thing, and bravery would follow." 

"And is it everything you hoped?" He questioned, looking over at her for a split second.

"Well, uh... I did want to see the world. That part didn't really work out. But, I did save my village." She sighs, giving a small smile at the end and pushing her cup to the side.

"And what about your, uh... betrothed? He seemed to be very against giving you up." Rumple could taste something sour as he inquired about that man. Something just made him so angry when he thought of him.

"It was an arranged marriage. Honestly, I never really cared much for Gaston. To me love is, well love is layered. Love is a mystery to be uncovered." She stood up, a dreamy look in her eyes as she began to speak passionately about the topic.

"Yeah, I could never truly give my heart to someone as superficial as he. So I suppose that was another reason I was happy to come with you." His eyes widened slightly and felt a warmth in his heart he hadn't felt in a long time. She was actually happy he made her that deal! He set down the ingredients no longer able to concentrate on mixing as a voice in the back of his head began to whisper to him. Quickly walking over to spin some straw to banish any thoughts his curse gave him. After a moment he perked up and turned to her

"I'll tell you what...I'll make you a deal. I want you fetch me some straw, so you can go to town on your own. But, you will ha...." He was cut off by a banging at the door, and belle quickly got up to answer it as she had been instructed from the start. He muttered under his breath, annoyed that he was interrupted.

Belle pulled the doors open and saw a few knights and her fiance. She looked confused for a moment before yelping as Gaston grabbed her by the wrist and quickly started to pull her after him.

"Quickly men, we must get my Belle to safety!" Gaston shouted, hoisting Belle onto his horse and climbing behind her. Kicking his horse into a gallop, he wrapped an arm around her waist. Belle began to struggle as she could feel the magic from their deal begin to pull her back.

"Gaston, you have to stop, you have to let me go now!" She began to panic, she had tried to escape once and remembered how she had been yanked back. 

"You are fine my love, I will not allow any harm to come to you! The ogres were hunted down shortly after you left so we could bring you back. The contract can be broken now." He smiled, thinking that was why she wanted to go back. Before Belle could say anything, her eyes widened and she felt something snap inside her before a moment later she slammed into her Captor.

She had never heard Rumplestiltskin yelp from pain before, and she would have laughed at his expression if she didn't hurt all over. Groaning she attempted to push away, and just tumbled to the floor as he stared at her shocked.

"Belle!? Are you alright, what happened?" He asked confused, helping her sit up before an arrow whizzed by his ear. Letting go of her, he growled at the man walking up to them. He stood still has more men began to enter, and his blood boiled as Gaston made his way to the front. Slowly his expression turned to rage as he realized why she was flung into him so hard, and he fisted his hands at his sides.

"I am sir Gaston. I fight for honor. For freedom. For love. And you, Beast, have taken my love. That shall not stand. For now you will taste the cold steel of my blade." His blade was raised and pointed at Rumple by the end of his speech. The dark one just rolled his eyes in annoyance as an arrow shot through him. He began to laugh, as he bagan to pull it out, before being immobilized.

"I see the Blue Fairy is at work again." He giggled trying to figure out what magic was used so he could reverse it. He frowned when the men ignored him and Gaston slowly walked over to Belle. He wasn't able to turn his head when he heard her hiss in pain. Swallowing hard, he began to sift through the magic faster as he heard her start to cry.

"Belle I'm sorry, relax for now, we can have a healer look at your back soon." Gaston said soothingly and Rumple felt ice cold fear shoot through him, they were taking her! If they tried to ride off she would just be flung back due to the magic and get hurt even more. He saw her in Gaston's arms as she weakly beat at his chest, and slowly started to see red.

"Gaston, Please! You can't just take me, after i made a deal to protect the kingdom!" She sobbed from both the pain in her back and being forced to go back to her kingdom just to be married off. He shushed her gently, pain in his eyes as he grabbed something from the archer who stood to his right. He clamped it around Belle's wrist tight enough Rumple could see her skin turn red. Rumple winced as of the knights pulled a dagger out and cut his thumb. Gaston forced Belle's arm to hold still as the knight squeezed rumple's thumb just enough to have blood drop on Belle's cuff. He snarled as Belle's eyes rolled back and she went slack, her body glowed for a few moments and the air sizzled around her.

Rumple felt his stomach drop as he recognized the object finally, it was a repeler and they just made him the target to repel. Gaston turned to him, his eyes filled with hate before looking down at Belle to steel his resolve.

"Know this, I only spared you because Belle cannot stand bloodshed." He said annoyed, remembering how he let his hate almost ruin any chance of having her affection. He turned away and rode off as screams could be heard from inside the estate.


End file.
